But here is a quote from another member of the Smithsonian – Kevin Gover, a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and director of the Institution's National Museum of the American Indian:

"I'm really not that interested in where the word comes from," Gover said. "I know how it was used. And it's been used in a disparaging way for at least a couple of centuries. Up to and including the time I was growing up in Oklahoma."

What is germane to the conversation? What is semantics? That is debatable. The fact remains that to many Native Americans, the term "redskin" has long meant the act of our ancestor's scalps being collected for bounty.

The kind of bounty that was referenced above. The kind of bounty that was referenced in the 1755 Phips Proclamation.

In terms of etymology, words change and meanings evolve. Fag, for instance, was once the accepted spelling for a cigarette throughout most of Europe. Now it's a common gay slur. Wetback, a Latino editor told me yesterday, was once a common term in headlines, but no longer.

All throughout yesterday, I received a deluge of feedback to my piece for Esquire. Here is one note. It is from a Native American.

Those redskins were ripped from native heads, ripping apart families, tribes, the very essence of our tribal cultures.